Deerhoof Perform at the Large Hadron Collider

CERN physicist: “Musical curiosity is similar to scientific curiosity and, on a personal level, Deerhoof has inspired me as much as Einstein."

The Large Hadron Collider is a giant particle accelerator built by the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) near Geneva, Switzerland. Since its completion in 2008, it's been used to conduct groundbreaking experiments in particle physics.

CERN recently teamed up with Deerhoof, who went to the LHC and improvised a piece of music while hanging out amongst the machinery. It was part of the Ex/Noise/CERN series, which seeks to pair experimental music with experimental particle physics. You can watch a video below.

"Ex/Noise/CERN is about exploring the unknown," said CERN's James Beacham. "During Run 2 of the LHC, we’re not sure what we’ll find -- extra Higgs bosons, dark matter, cracks in the Standard Model -- and when we brought Deerhoof to CERN, we weren’t sure what they’d do in SM-18. But like the best scientists, they were curious, daring and embraced the unknown -- with spectacular results."

He added, “Musical curiosity is similar to scientific curiosity and, on a personal level, Deerhoof has inspired me as much as Einstein. They’re explorers and this sense of exploration is what you feel in the air at CERN right now, and so the pairing of Deerhoof and CERN was natural.”

Deerhoof also contributed a new song, "Kuma Kita (A Bear Arrives)", to the Post Tangent compilation, which benefits Syrian refugees arriving in Calais, France. Download/listen to the song here; all proceeds go to the charity CalAid.